Following a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and 149 shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.